Ziff-Davis shuts down 1UP, GameSpy as part of restructuring effort

Ziff-Davis, owner of IGN Entertainment, recently announced they will be closing three very popular video game websites in their network: 1UP, GameSpy and UGO. The decision is also leaving a number of people looking elsewhere for employment as the company says it just isn’t feasible to run multiple sites focused on video game content given the state of the market and the economy.

Former 1UP editor-in-chief Jeremy Parish said the decision comes as a huge disappointment as he has invested nearly 10 years of his life in the website. He said he was proud to have been a part of something so much larger than himself and noted that there was so much that needed to be archived in case someone did decide to pull the plug on the servers.

That last bit is in reference to an official statement that said no timeline was given for 1UP’s closure or if its servers would continue to run indefinitely.

A similar message on GameSpy highlighted the fact that the site has been online for 14 years. The message quickly dispelled the notion that the site was closing down because PC gaming is no longer important. Instead, it all boils down to a “business thing” which is not easy to explain or understand unless you are crunching numbers and paying bills.

We are told that some of the staff from the sites Ziff-Davis decided to shutter will be moving over to work as contributors at IGN.